I've had 3 Taiwanese Stainless steel dive knives -- I also own US, UK, German, Chinese and Swiss knives for other purposes. My mother also still uses a very cheap but excellent Japanese bread knife that she bought 30+ years ago from a market stall
(before Japanese goods became known for quality).
I think fancy knives are rather overrated -- but a moderate priced one can be a pleasure to own. For example, my mid-priced US lock knife & combat knife are fairly rough in finish but are good solid workhorses. Cheap brittle knives were common maybe 20 years ago -- I had a couple but I have not seen any recently. You can now buy cheap knives that are very good (the sheaths are often rubbish though!).
I have a couple of cheap ($1.50) chinese saw-blade pen knives (3" & 2") that have incredibly sharp blades but the most brittle, rubbish plastic handles -- I carry them in my ruck sack as cheap, light, disposable emergency knives that will easily slice through thick climbing tape/rope if an emergency decent is needed.
I lost my first dive knife first day out. It was an excellent weight, design and quality and was cheap at 7 pounds ($12). Not sure how it was lost (my first time diving in decades), I am normally very careful with gear. It could be the knife only locked properly in the sheath one way round (I have another knife like that).
Having lost a knife I bought two others. & marked them up with reflective tape. The second dive knife is a big shiney, blunt tip model with a hole in the middle -- quite common & cheap on ebay. I sharpened the rather dull blade & the flat tip up with a mill bast*rd file -- nice and sharp. I works well, I have cut myself free of fishing line, dispatched a spear fish and beheaded and gutted a large fish with it (the long-ish blade & saw on back made this a quick and easy job) -- ignore divers who say get a small knife or heavy scissors, for spearfishing off a snorkel, get a decent size knife. I always rinse all my gear, & occasionaly I touch up the blade & oil it -- however, this shiney knife does not rust. I attached a heavy elastic lanyard as a back up to the sheath -- but it caused the plastic sheath to break, however it was easily fixed with electricians tape & superglue. It is my main dive knife.
My third dive knife is my guest knife, it has a dull-coloured stainless steel blade that rusts after exposure to salt water, so it needs to be cleaned and oiled. However, its blade came very sharp and has stayed that way. I used it for a while when the sheath above failed but the knife is a bit too short to dispatch and/or behead/gut a large fish. It too has a flat tip, which I have sharped (to a flat chisel blade). This model, also popular on ebay, had several things that I did not like:
1. Handle was loose (easy fix: superglued it)
2. It fits sheath either way but locks only on one side (which has a button on the knife handle) -- so careful when re-sheathing.
3. The legs straps were too short for my muscley legs (fix: used the long strap on the bottom and salvaged a nice heavy duty strap from my first dive knife for the top).
4. Straps are stretchy (good) but have no strap loops, so I feed the loose end back under -- a bit trashy though, IMHO and the buckles move & distort in the stretchy strap.
Conclusion:
It is easy to loose dive knives. Buy cheap but good ones by all means.
- Mark them for easy retrieval (reflective tape, paint, float?) and
- back up the often poor sheaths/locks, or replace the sheaths
- add a lanyard & use it to secure the knife (make sure it is easy to release though).
- Sharpen the knives (a dull knife is a poor tool) -- sharpening stones and kitchen sharpeners are ok, but a mill b*stard file will get an edge on anything quickly (it may not look as pretty).
- many swear by a good, cheap kitchen or steak knife and sheath made of old hose-pipe or climbing tape (e.g. tube tape).
What Next?
I am considering buying a low-medium price spearo knife -- one of the Omer Stiletto designs (Hunter, etc.). They are reasonably priced. The sheath on the cheaper one (12 GBP/$20) appears to be rubber & looks robust. Oddly, the otherwise fine looking larger, more expensive knife (17 GBP /$30) has a glossy, bulky, plastic sheath that looks a lot like the cheap Taiwanese knives have. The Stilleto with rear saw blade design makes sense for spearfishing -- although the cheaper one seems too short to me for dispatching big fish. Apparently it is very popular with spearos, can be arm mounted; the stringer is perhaps the obvious alternative choice of dispatch tool (a big Rob Allen one, for example) or RA's dedicated dispatch tool (like a spear end with a handle and metal sheath -- similar to the old weapon they used to dispatch badly injured, armoured knights with). I like the look of the Rob Allen's webbing limpet sheath & may get one -- but the Rob Allen knife, although no doubt wonderful, is just way too pricey for me and for any knife with no proper handle (just bare stainless steel -- admittedly that might be perfect for a gloved spearo not wanting to get snagged -- but it must reduce manufacturing costs significantly); I have seen similar (not identical) stainless steel Taiwanese models which should be a reasonable alternative though. I believe Riffe do some interesting knives too -- probably overpriced for dentists & doctors though
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Ideal spearo knife? I reckon an old WWII British commando stilello shape & size, with a saw edge on one side (& perhaps a line notch -- although maybe that is a gimmick), a slightly flattened handle (Omer's knives are closest to this but a bit small) and a Rob Allen Limpet type sheath. Stiletto seems more humane (quicker, cleaner, simpler) than the currently trendy blunt tip blade (even when sharpened to a chisel edge).
:getsome: :mgun:
